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5 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 

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! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



THE 



Sabbath Month: 



DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS 



FOR 



3rOTTIN~Gh MOTHERS. 



BY 

LOUISE SEYMOUR HOUGHTON. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 




Westcott & Thomson, 
Stereotype™ and Electrotypers, PhUada, 



PREFACE. 



The weeks of retirement which are ap- 
pointed to those who have just become mothers 
are, to many, a period of irksome restraint, 
where hours of pain alternate with hours of 
weariness and of anxious " thought-taking " 
about duties from which God's providence has 
secluded them. The writer, a joyful mother 
of many children, has been graciously led to 
find in this period a time in which the soul, 
defrauded of her rights by many jealous cares, 
has here enjoyed her Sabbaths. In this wilder- 
ness the Lord has spoken comfortably unto 
her ; in it her heart has sung as in the days 
of her youth; and from it she has come up 
leaning uj3on her Beloved with renewed 
strength for the duties of daily life. 



4 PREFACE. 

This thought she offers as a cup of cold 
water, in the name of Christ, to any expect- 
ant mother whose spirit faints at the prospect 
of the wearisome nights and days of darkness 
which are appointed her. The ark of the 
covenant of the Lord goes before you, beloved, 
to "search out a resting-place." "In the wil- 
derness he will plead with you face to face. 
His presence will make the outgoings of the 
morning and of the evening to rejoice." So 
shall these weary weeks prove to you "a time 
of refreshing," a blessed "Sabbath of rest 
to the Lord." 

"Like a pearl left on the shore 
When the ocean's rage is o'er, 
So, from out the storm and strife 
Almost overwhelming life, 
My dear waif, a little form, 
Fragile, tender, soft and warm, 
In my happy arms found rest, 
Nestled to my loving breast. 

" Oft and oft upon my bed 
Has my heart looked up, and said, 
' Oh, my God, to thee I call ; 
Thou, who only knowest all — 



PREFACE. 

All the anguish of the night, 
All the soft, serene delight 
With which mothers wake to find 
Day before them, night behind ; — 
Knowest, too, how brief a part 
In the lifetime of one heart 
Are the moments in which press 
All this flood of blessedness ; 
How, through all the ages past, 
And as long as time shall last, 
Not an hour but, as it flies, 
Holds such pain-bought ecstasies; 
Yet unmoved canst bear the sight 
In thy silent, heavenly height, 
Never, never, did my heart 
Feel as now, how great thou art ! ' 

"And yet once that One unseen 
Left his hiding-place serene; 
Once, half shone on human sight 
The Divine and Infinite — 
Not in passionless repose, 
But as sharer of our woes. 

1 Born of woman ; ' — since that hour 
Has her curse lost half its power; 
Since he came its sphere within, 
Sorrow has joy's servant been. 
Now, beneath its sheltering wing, 
Lo our sweetest blessings spring — 
All the loves and hopes which start 
From the overflowing heart; 



PREFACE. 

All familiar joys and ties 
Gilded as with parting eyes ; 
All the silent strength of faith 
Standing face to face with death; 
All the morning's sweet delight 
Dawning on the stormy night, 
And the glad return once more 
To the half-relinquished shore. 
Doubly beautiful to view 
With its old joys and its new. 
Oh, if such God's curses prove, 
What must be his full-orbed love? 

" Ah, thou heaven-sweet, precious thing ! 
Thou did'st need such heralding, 
Lest, too satisfied, my heart 
Dare forget from whence thou art — 
Dare forget thy royal rights 
In my fostering delights, 
And how tenderly God laid 
His dear hand on me, and said, 

'I have noble work for thee; 
Come aside, and learn of me P 
So I left the din and crowd 
And the voices gay and loud, 
And, like Mary, did repair, 
Hasting to the hills for prayer; 
And in sweet retirement then, 
Near to God and far from men, 
On my waiting soul did ope 
All the glory of its hope, 






PEE FACE. 

And my heart, once light and free, 
Learned the Mother's mystery — 
Learned its holy cross to bear 
Of sorest sorrow and dear care ; 
While each day, a heavenly voice 
Made me tremble and rejoice: 
1 Lo, the Father sends to thee 
A soul from out eternity; 
Come thou to the border; — there 
Its angel yields it to thy care!' 

"Now, returned to all life's charms 
With the treasure in my arms, 
Oh, my God, from this full heart 
Let the vision not depart !" 

(From Putnam's Monthly.) 



The Sabbath Month. 



THE PEEPAEATION-DAY. 

" A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her 
hour is come ; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, 
she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is 
born into the world." — John xvi. 21. 

TTOW wonderful it is that even in this 
■*"*- mysterious trial, this union of sorrow and 
joy, of sharpest pangs and holiest bliss — which 
can never be comprehended but by one who 
has experienced it— that even here our Lord 
can sympathize with us most perfectly ! Who 
else could so describe the sorrow and the 
happiness, the shrinking fear and the glad 
rejoicing, but He who has travailed in birth 
for souls, and whose joy over each newly- 
born spirit is unspeakable and full of glory ? 



I 



10 THE SABBATH MONTH 

It is wonderful to contemplate that as the 
hour of his passion was approaching his 
words were so much of joy. " If ye loved 
me," he says, "ye would rejoice;" "These 
things have I spoken unto you, that your 
joy might be full ; " "Ye shall be sorrowful, 
but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and 
your joy no man taketh from you" For the 
sake of " the joy set before him " he en- 
dured the cross — not merely his own joy, 
though he looked forward to the time when 
he should see of the travail of his soul and 
should be satisfied, but he foresaw also the 
joy of his redeemed ones, and this gave him 
strength to endure. 

Since he has himself likened the pangs 
and sorrows of his hour to the hour of suf- 
fering which now approaches us, there can 
be no irreverence in our meekly appropri- 
ating the comfort which springs from his 
words. "We too may be sustained by the 
joy set before us. We may take hold of his 
strength, which has been made perfect through 



THE PREPARATION-DAY. H 

suffering ; nay more, by faith we may now 
be admitted into the fellowship of his suffer- 
ings, and gain a new, mysterious insight into 
the depths of his love for us. 

Patience worketh experience, and expe- 
rience hope. Our experience of his mercy, 
multiplied beyond measure, may well teach 
us to rejoice now in the hope of deliverance. 
In this ordeal especially through which we 
are now to pass does not experience tell us 
to be of good cheer? How many, many joy- 
ful mothers of children are all around us ! 
How few, how very few in comparison, have 
laid down their lives in this conflict ! " I 
will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me," 
is especially the language of God at this time. 
And have we not, for our support, a promise 
which our infinitely tender Father, foreseeing 
our faint-heartedness, has sent to us as an 
especial message of grace? — " Notwithstand- 
ing, she shall be saved in child-bearing, if 
they continue in faith and charity and holi- 
ness, with sobriety." She shall be saved! 



12 



THE SABBATH MONTH. 



Let us lay hold on this promise with a firm 
grasp. The conditions need not frighten us, 
for God, who searcheth the heart, knows 
that, though perhaps in the midst of unbelief, 
we do believe. And our faith is counted to 
us for righteousness. And he giveth more 



grace. 



Let us, then, boldly say, " The Lord is my 
helper." We may both hope and quietly 
wait for the salvation of the Lord. Our 
times are in his hands. God is our refuge 
and strength, a very present help in trouble. 
Let us look, then, rather at the joy set before 
us than at the sorrow which will precede it. 
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy 
cometh in the morning. 



THE APPROACHING 110 UB. 13 



THE APPROACHING HOUR. 

"f\ LORD, I am oppressed, undertake for 
^ me. My flesh and my heart fail, but 
God is the strength of my heart, and my por- 
tion for ever. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death. O my Father, if this cup 
may not pass away from me, except I drink 
it, thy will be done. Have mercy upon me, 
O Lord, for I am in trouble. Oh keep my 
soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, 
for I put my trust in thee. O my God, my 
soul is cast down within me; all thy waves 
and thy billows are gone over me. Be 
pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. Be not thou 
far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste 
thee to help me." 

u Fear not, for I am with thee ; be not dis- 
mayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen 
thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold 
thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 
When thou passest through the waters I will 



14 THE SABBATH MONTH 

be with thee, and through the rivers, they 
shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest 
through the fire thou shalt not be burned, 
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 
For I, the Lord, will hold thy right hand, 
saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. 

" The eternal God is thy refuge, and un- 
derneath are the everlasting arms. As one 
whom his mother eomforteth, so will I com- 
fort you. I will strengthen thee upon the 
bed of languishing ; I will make all thy bed 
in tliy sickness. Be strong and of good cour- 
age ; fear not, nor be afraid, for the Lord thy 
God, he it is that doth go with thee ; he 
will not fail thee nor forsake thee." 

" Yea, though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; 
for even there shall thy hand lead me, and 
thy right hand uphold me. The Lord is 
my light and my salvation; whom shall I 
fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life ; 
of whom shall I be afraid? I sought the 
Lord, and he heard me and delivered me 



FIRST DAY. 15 

from all my fears. Thou drewedst near me 
in the day that I called upon thee ; thou 
saidst, Fear not. Thou art my hiding-place ; 
thou shalt preserve me from trouble ; thou 
shalt compass me about with songs of deliv- 
erance. Oh, how great is thy goodness, which 
thou hast laid up for them that fear thee ! 
I shall not die, but live and declare the works 
of the Lord." 



FIRST DAY. 

" Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened 
me."— 2 Tim. iv. 17. 

" \f Y soul doth magnify the Lord, and my 
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
What shall I render unto God for all his ben- 
efits toward me ? For the sorrows of death 
compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold 
upon me. But thou hast delivered my soul 
from death and mine eyes from tears. In 
the day of my calamity the Lord was my 



16 THE SABBATH 310 NTH 

stay. Thou hast made me exceeding glad 
with thy countenance. For this child I 
prayed, and the Lord hath given me my 
petition which I asked of him. Thy vows 
are upon me, O Lord ; I will render praises 
unto thee. 

" Because thy loving-kindness is better 
than life, my lips shall praise thee. Lord, I 
have hoped in thee, and hope maketh not 
ashamed, because the love of God is shed 
abroad in my heart." 

Grant, Lord Jesus, that my love to thee 
may abound yet more and more ; may I feel 
in my inmost heart that I am not my own, 
having been bought by the sufferings of the 
Son of God, and may I endeavor through 
my whole life to glorify thee in my body 
and my spirit, which are thine! 



SECOND DAY. 17 



SECOND DAY. 

" And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, 
receiveth me." — Matt, xviii. 5. 

F\EAR Lord, can this be true? Dost 
^ thou indeed so identify thyself with 
the very least of all thy ransomed ones that 
whoso shall receive one of them with glad 
welcome for the sake of the Lord who bought 
it, receiveth thee to be a guest who shall go 
no more out ? Oh, then, dear Saviour, so 
sanctify the love which I now have for my 
baby, so purify and elevate it, that I shall 
see in the little one in my arms not merely 
the child of my own love and suffering, but 
thy child, ransomed with suffering infinitely 
greater than my own. So this beloved one 
becomes a thousand-fold more dear for thy 
sake while I minister unto it as unto thee. 
Come, then, Lord Jesus; be it unto me 
according to thy word. Abide with me; 
make of my heart thy temple. Fulfill unto 



18 THE SABBATH MONTH 

me thy promise; behold, the tabernacle of 
God is with men, and he will dwell with 
them, and they shall be his people, and God 
himself shall be with them, and be their God. 
Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus ! 



THIRD DAY. 

"Be glad witli her, all ye that love her." — IsA. lxiv. 10. 

TTOW sweet a joy is that in which we all 
"*-■** partake in welcoming the little new- 
comer into the world ! How glad we are 
with the dear mother ! How every tender 
word of salutation comes rushing to our lips! 
"Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord 
is with thee ; blessed art thou among women ! " 
" Peace be to thee, our friends salute thee ! " 
" The children of thine elect sister greet thee ! " 
" All the saints salute you, chiefly they which 
are of Caesar's household "—of the family 
of our great King. 

We do not wonder, now, that when of old 






THIRD DAY. 19 

he laid the foundations of the earth, the 
habitation of the children whom he was to 
create, the morning stars sang together and 
all the sons of God shouted for joy. We 
realize something of the intense sympathy 
without which even the infinite joy of the 
heavenly Father was not complete. And 
when he bringeth the First-Begotten into 
the wor]d he saith, And let all the angels of 
God worship him. Then it was that the 
glory of the Lord appeared on earth, and the 
skies were filled with a multitude of the 
heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory 
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good- will to men. 

" Unto us a son is born, unto us a child is 
given." Oh, this mystery of babyhood ! who 
can fathom it ? " His name shall be called 
wonderful ; " not the divine Infant alone, but 
every baby born into the world. In what 
respect is the little one other than wonderful, 
not only to the mother, but to us all, who 
love her? How wonderful to us are the tiny 



20 THE SABBATH MONTH 

hands, the lialf- formed features, the sleepings 
and wakings of the mysterious little one! 
With what absorbing interest have we watched 
every phase of its three-day life, laying up 
every indication of development in our hearts, 
saying, "What manner of child shall this be?" 
He of whom the whole family in heaven 
and on earth is named has given us, with 
this little one, another link in the golden 
chain of fellowship — a new bond of union 
with each other and with the family above. 
The Lord hath done great things for us, 
whereof we are glad. The voice of rejoicing 
and salvation is in our tabernacles, and with 
full hearts we pray, "The blessing of the 
Lord be upon you ; we bless you in the name 
of the Lord." 



FOURTH DAY. 21 



FOUETH DAY. 

"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd : he shall gather the 
lambs with his arm, and cany them in his bosom, and shall 
gently lead those that are with young." (Margin, give suck.)— 

ISA. Xl. 11. 

FT1HE margin shows that this verse brings 
-*- an especial word of comfort to the 
mothers of infant children— to those who by 
reason of the peculiar demands upon their 
strength, the new and tender anxieties and 
cares which devolve upon them, are in es- 
pecial need of " gentle leading." Already, 
perhaps, after our great joy at deliverance 
from suffering and from the fear of death, our 
glad acceptance of the new-born gift, already 
has come the weariness and faintness of new 
responsibility ; our souls are discouraged be- 
cause of the way ; our weak hands hang 
down and our feeble knees refuse to support 
us. " Who is sufficient for these things?" is 
our anxious cry. And the answer comes 
speedily — yes, even before we have called — 



22 THE SABBATH MONTH 

" Behold, the Lord our God will come with 
a strong hand." He shall gather our little 
lambs with his arm and carry them in his 
bosom, and he will gently lead the weary, 
fainting mother. 

Oh how surely, how unfailingly, he comes 
to our help ! — not one of us is forgotten be- 
fore God. "Behold I, even I, will both 
search my sheep and seek them out." He 
knoweth our frame; he remembereth that 
we are dust. " I will feed my flock, and I 
will cause them to lie down" saith the Lord. 
Yes, to lie down in green pastures and be- 
side the still waters. Oh, what a restoring 
of the soul is this ! 

So, now, we may rest in his love. And 
when he calls us to resume our journey, he 
leads us again by the hand. For he calleth 
his own sheep by name, and leadeth them 
out; and when he putteth forth his own 
sheep into contact with the world, when he 
bids them leave the secure fold where, for a 
season, he has shut them up from harm, he 



FIFTH DAY. 23 

goeth before them. No evil can reach them 
till it has overcome him ; and of that there 
is no fear. " Be of good cheer, I have over- 
come the world." 

Dear Saviour, we will not fear. When 
thou wilt lead us out we will follow thee, for 
we know thy voice. Our lambs to thy ten- 
der arms, ourselves to thy gracious leading, 
we now gladly surrender, reposing peacefully 
upon thy word: "The Lord knovveth them 
that are his." 



FIFTH DAY. 

" Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give 
thee thy wages." — Ex. ii. 9. 

riIHE princess of Egypt, having redeemed 
the little child from the decree of death 
impending over him, returned him to his 
own mother, saying, " Take this child away 
and nurse it for me." How striking a par- 
allel we find in this to God's dealings with 
us and our children ! 



24 THE SABBATH MONTH 

They, too, are doomed to death. We are 
powerless to save them ; our only hope is to 
cast them entirely upon his mercy, praying 
him to adopt them into his own family, and 
so redeem them from the power of sin and 
death. And he hears our prayer, and an- 
swers it — not by taking them at once to be 
with him, and so removing them from all 
danger. That would, indeed, be surprising 
mercy. But in his infinite love he has better 
things in store for us than this ; he accepts 
the trust our weakness and almost despairing 
faith imposes on him; he enters into cove- 
nant with us for our children, and then, in 
tender mercy to our longing mother-hearts, 
he recommits each child to our hands, saying, 
" Nurse it for me" 

May I never neglect this solemn trust! 
May I never forget that it is for God that I 
am nursing my little one ! May this child be 
an offering wholly dedicated unto God ! May 
" Holiness to the Lord " be inscribed upon 
everything which has reference to it, and no 



FIFTH DAY. 25 

taint of self-seeking mar this service, no 
lower aim be mine than to keep it unspotted 
from the world ! 

"And I will give thee thy wages/' It 
had been bliss sufficient for that Hebrew 
mother to receive her baby into her arms, 
w r ith permission to nurse and tend it for the 
gracious princess who had saved its life. But 
she is, beyond this, to receive wages for her 
labor of love. So with us ; even in this life, 
for all our prayers and tears, our struggles 
with Satan — who desires to have our precious 
ones — and with the sin which so nearly has 
dominion over them, — for all this we shall 
receive " manifold more " even in this pres- 
ent life, and in the world to come, for us 
and for them, life everlasting. 



26 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

SIXTH DAY. 

" And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord." — Isa. 
liv. 13. 

T)LESSED is the man whom thou teaches t, 
-^ O Lord ! and thrice blessed the children 
whom thou dost in infancy adopt into thy 
school ! I ask not with Salome, " Grant that 
my children may sit at thy right hand and 
at thy left in thy kingdom," but, dear Lord, 
I pray, Take my baby into thine arms and 
bless it, and so give it a knowledge of 
thyself. 

And yet, like Salome, I know not what I 
ask. Can my child drink of the cup which 
thine infinite wisdom ordains for it ? I know 
not what pain and sorrow, what suffering, 
want or w T oe, thy love may provide for this 
precious little one, whom I would fain defend 
from all ill. How shall I bear to see the 
evil that may come upon my beloved in 
answer to my prayer ? Only by thy grace, 
O God. Yet keep my lamb from sinning 



SIXTH DAY. 27 

against thee, Lord, and I will leave all else 
to thee. Mould it in thine image, and then, 
come sorrow, come suffering, come death, all 
shall be well with the child. 

"And great shall be the peace of thy 
children." Lord, what a rock of strength 
is thy word of promise ! Great peace have 
they who love thy law ; yea, great peace even 
in sorrow and under the chastening of the 
Lord. Have I not known this in my own 
life, and shall I not believe that my child 
shall find it true? I will be anxious no 
more, dear Saviour. Into thy loving hands 
do I commit this child of my sorrows and 
my joyful hopes. Keep my little one in the 
secret of thy presence. I will both lay me 
down in peace and sleep, for in the day when 
I cried thou answeredst me and strength- 
enedst me with strength in my soul. 



28 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

SEVENTH DAY. 

" Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." — 
Luke xii. 7. 

nHHE little head, with its scanty adornment 
• of silken hair, lies cradled on my arm. 
I pass my hand over the shining down, 
smoothing and parting it; the soft, satin 
touch thrills to my very heart ; I count each 
bright thread a priceless treasure, while my 
Saviour, never so near to me as in these holy 
days, draws closer and whispers, " Even the 
very hairs of your head are all numbered." 
" You who love your baby so/' he says to 
me, " do you now believe ? Can you now 
realize something of my tender care of my 
' little ones'? He that toncheth you toucheth 
the apple of my eye. Do you see a beauty 
in your baby, hidden, you know, from others, 
but revealed none the less evidently to you ? 
Behold, thou art fair, my love, behold thou 
art fair ; thou hast doves' eyes within thy 
locks. Can you now understand my pleasure 



SEVENTH DAY. 29 

in that utter helplessness which is your baby's 
clearest claim upon your love and your own 
strongest tie to mine ? Thou canst not make 
one hair white or black ; what can you do to 
shield yourself from harm? yet am not I 
with thee ? There shall not a hair of your 
head perish. Not in infancy alone, but even 
to your old age, I am He, and even to hoar 
hairs I will carry you. I have made and I 
will bear ; even I will carry and will deliver 

you." 

O God, thou hast taught me from my 
youth ; and hitherto have I declared thy 
wondrous works ; now, also, unto old age and 
gray hairs (margin), O Gocl, forsake me not. 
The Lord hath been mindful of us ; he will 
bless us. Yes, thou Lord, art a shield for 
me, my glory and the lifter up of my head. 
Thou anointest my head with oil ; my cup 
runneth over; surely, goodness and mercy 
shall follow me all the days of my life, and 
I will dwell in the house of the Lord for 
ever. For this God is our God for ever and 



30 THE SABBATH MONTH 

ever ; lie will be our guide even unto death. 
Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall 
return, and come with singing unto Zion ; 
and everlasting joy shall he upon their head; 
they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sor- 
row and mourning shall flee away. 



EIGHTH DAY. 

"Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, 
let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto 
us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall 
be born." — Judg. xiii. 8. 

r E have the aid of angels in our work. 
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent 
forth to minister to them who shall be heirs 
of salvation? Our children are heirs, for 
the children of promise are counted for the 
seed, and in heaven their angels do always 
behold the Father's face. 

In their ignorance as to the right manner 
of training the promised child, Manoah 
and his wife prayed that the angel might 



EIGHTH BAY. 31 

come again and teach them. And He who 
ever hath compassion on the ignorant sent 
the heavenly messenger for their instruction. 

In this history lies a twofold encourage- 
ment for us : First, in showing that the 
ignorance which is through the weakness of 
our nature need in no way harm our children, 
since God is able to supply all our need ; and 
again in the contemplation of the bright and 
glorious company who are his messengers 
of grace to us. We are come unto an innu- 
merable company of angels, who all, with 
holy delight, rejoice to watch over the train- 
ing of immortal souls which shall shine in 
the kingdom of their God. 

Oh, the wonderful contrast between our 
weakness and those ministers of his which 
excel in strength ! How glorious the thought 
that we are constantly accompanied by them, 
and that they have received a charge con- 
cerning us! So Daniel, the man greatly 
beloved, was strengthened by an angel. So 
Isaiah, when overwhelmed by a sense of sin, 



32 THE SABBATH MONTH 

was purified through the medium of an angel. 
So John, the beloved disciple, was led by an 
angel in his visions of the New Jerusalem 
even to the very throne of God. 

We need not fear that this ministration of 
angels will intervene between our souls and 
Christ. They are no hindrance to the free 
and unceasing communion of the faithful 
soul with her Lord. Yet even as he delights 
to do the will of God, so his servants delight 
in ministering to his redeemed ones, his 
special treasure (Mai. iii. 17, margin). Oh, 
the glorious assembly to which this minis- 
tration introduces us ! 



NINTH DAY. 

"We are the children of God, . . . and if children then, 
heirs."— Eom. viii. 16, 17. 

A H, what a new meaning these blessed 
"*"*- words bear to me now as I hold my own 
child in my arms ! To be the child of God ! 



NINTH DAY. 33 

to belong to him in this dearest, closest of 
relations ! Can it be possible that I can be 
to God what my child is to me ? that he 
can so delight in me as I now delight in my 
baby ? " The Lord thy God will rejoice over 
thee with joy : he will rest in his love : he 
will joy over thee with singing/' even as I 
now do over thee, my little one, with a joy 
which is but a shadow of the joy of our 
Father over his redeemed ones. 

Oh, let me take this love of mine for my 
child for a lesson ; and daily, as it grows 
stronger and deeper, may my apprehension 
of God's love for me become deeper and 
truer, and a more living power in my heart. 
Do I delight in providing for thy wants, my 
baby? "How much more shall your Father 
which is in heaven give good things to them 
that ask him !" Do I shrink from pain for 
my darling and hush all its little sorrows upon 
my bosom? " As one whom his mother com- 
forteth, so will I comfort you." Do I bear 
with loving patience the cares which my 



34 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

baby's infirmities bring upon me ? " His 
compassions fail not," and " like as a father 
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them 
that fear him." Would I keep all harm and 
danger from my little one, and guard it even 
with my own life ? " God so loved the world 
that he gave his only-begotten Son " for its 
salvation. His Son— Ms only Son I Oh the 
depths of love which could conceive of such 
a sacrifice !— love of which I, clasping my 
baby to my heart, now first begin to have a 
glimmering sense. Oh for such love what 
devotion can be an adequate return ? Who 
can even begin to comprehend this love of 
God to us? 

Where, then, is doubt or distrust or 
anxiety of mind ? What place can it find 
in the presence of this wondrous love? 
" He that spared not his own Son, but deliv- 
ered him up for us all, hoio shall he not, with 
him, freely give us all things?" How, in- 
deed ! What could he withhold after such 
an infinite sacrifice? All things are indeed 



TENTH DA Y. 35 

mine while I call God my Father, for " if 
children, then heirs." 

Lord Jesus, help me daily, as I feel my love 
for my child growing and strengthening in 
my heart, to gain deeper insight into the love 
of God for me. Behold, what manner of 
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that 
we should be called the sons of God ! 



TENTH DAY. 

" Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go 
up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." — Ex. 
xxxiv. 24. 

" QEE, for that the Lord hath given you 
the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you 
on the sixth day the bread of two clays." 

" I know whom I have believed, and am 
persuaded that he is able to keep that which 
I have committed unto him." 

There is no danger in the way of the 
Lord's commandments. The children of 



36 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

Israel could safely leave their wives and 
their little ones, their flocks and herds, while 
they went up to appear before the Lord ; 
no man should desire their land, and all 
would be safe in the keeping of their heav- 
enly Father. When God gives a command 
lie provides the way for its keeping. If he 
gives the Sabbath, and ordains that in it no 
work shall be done, he also gives on the sixth 
day the bread of two days ; if he sends all 
the men-children up to his holy feast, he 
makes even their enemies to be at peace with 
them during their absence. He is able to 
keep that which is committed to him. 

O my soul! stay thou thyself upon this 
word of the Lord ; his hand is not shortened, 
and every word of the Lord is sure. Hast 
thou not in thine own providence laid me 
aside from my usual duties, dear Lord, and 
may I not trust thee that no harm shall 
ensue from my absence? Lord, I am prone 
to anxiety about those whose comfort and 
well-being seemed to me to depend upon my 



TENTH DAY. 37 

presence among tliem. I picture to myself 
the dreariness of the place which I have left 
to go up and appear before thee ; the solitude 
of those to whom my society is dear; the 
dangers to which they are exposed who need 
my care ; the neglected duties of those who 
miss my supervision ; the little corner of thy 
vineyard, where I have been wont to labor, 
neglected. Lord, help me to roll all this 
burden upon thee. I have thine assurance, 
the wolf shall not be permitted to creep into 
the fold during my absence. No hireling 
shall lead any of the flock astray. Thou art 
able to keep that which I have committed to 
thee. Keep me too, dear Saviour, under the 
shelter of thy wings, safe from all evil and 
from the fear of evil. "I will say of the 
Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress : my 
God ; in him will I trust." 

" Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror 
by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by 
day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in 
darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth 



38 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

at noonday. Because thou hast made the 
Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most 
High, thy habitation, there shall no evil be- 
fall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels 
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways." 



ELEVENTH DAY. 

"And white robes were given unto every one of them." — 
Eev. vi. 11. 

A S my baby is brought to me so pure and 
•*-*- spotless in the white robes my own love 
and forethought have provided for it, a new 
lesson in holiness, a fresh sense of my heavenly 
Father's love, is brought home to my heart. 
I am reminded of the tender joy with 
which I prepared not only things useful 
and necessary, but all manner of beautiful 
and dainty garments, for my baby. And so 
I learn to trust my Saviour, not alone for 
things needful to my existence, but for what- 



ELEVENTH DAY. 39 

ever of beauty and of luxury my nature 
craves, as far as he sees them to be good for 
me, With what glory and loveliness he has 
clothed the earth ! how he has delighted to 
make all things beautiful in their season ! 
and "if God so clothe the grass of the 
field," shall he not much more clothe me — 
with more delight, more forethought provide 
for me ? " Your heavenly Father knoiveth 
that ye have need of all these things," and 
anticipates every want as gladly as I, with 
loving heart, provided for my baby's coming. 
"Bring forth the best robe" he commands, 
" and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on 
his feet" — ornament and luxury for whom 
provided ? Not for one innocent of actual 
offence, as is my baby, but for one who, like 
me, has broken his law and wounded his 
love ; even for such a one as this. " I will 
greatly rejoice in the Lord ; my soul shall 
be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed 
me in the garments of salvation ; he hath 
covered me with the robe of righteousness." 



40 THE SABBATH MONTH 

So, " because he delights in me," as I in ray 
little one, he delivers me from sin and wills 
iny perfect holiness. "Behold, I have caused 
thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I 
have clothed thee with change of raiment." 
" Awake, put on thy beautiful garments, for 
from henceforth there shall no more come 
unto thee the uncircumcised and unclean." 
No stain of sin may be cherished in my soul, 
for "the King's daughter is all glorious with- 
in," " and unto her it was granted that she 
should be arrayed in fine linen, pure and 
white, for the fine linen is the righteousness 
of the saints." 

So, when I look upon my baby's white 
robes and recall the bright anticipations of 
future loveliness, the prayers for my little one's 
constant growth toward perfection, which I 
stitched into every seam and fold of the 
delicate white raiment, I am reminded that 
not yet is the " j>erfection of beauty " which 
my Father has designed for me. That great 
multitude which no man could number, 



ELEVENTH BAY. 41 

which stood before the throne of God and of 
the Lamb, is of them which have come out of 
great tribulation and have washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne 
of God. May I be numbered with that holy 
throng! Grant me grace, O my Saviour, 
no longer to shrink from the trials which 
thy love ordains for my perfecting. Bestow 
upon me that absolute confidence in thee 
which will enable me to receive sorrow from 
thy hand with cheerfulness, " not accepting 
deliverance " from aught which thou sendest 
as a preparation for the glorious day of thine 
appearing. 

And yet, as I receive my white-robed baby 
into my arms fresh and pure from its morn- 
ing bath, I feel that great rushing tide of 
tenderness which tells me that in no future 
development of strength and beauty can my 
child be more precious to me than now in 
utter weakness and dependence. So may I 
realize the infinite tenderness of our Father 



42 THE SABBATH MONTH 

for those who cast themselves, helpless and 
humble, upon his love, and may I seek to 
receive the kingdom of heaven " as a little 
child"! 



TWELFTH DAY. 

"For I know him, that he will command his children 
and his household after him, and they shall keep the way 
of the Lord." — Gen. xviii. 19. 

FT1HE literal rendering of the Hebrew would 
-*- be, " I have known (i. e. foreknown, 
elected) him, to the end that he should com- 
mand his children," etc. We learn, then, 
that Abraham was distinctly selected by God 
in order that he might train up a chosen seed, 
an elect people, to keep the way of the Lord. 
" For this cause I have raised thee up." 
There is no such thing as a happening with 
our God. " Ye have not chosen me, but I 
have chosen you." And for what? "That 
ye should bring forth fruit." It is always for 
some purpose. " Elect unto good works " — 



TWELFTH DAY. 43 

"called to be saints" — -"whom lie did fore- 
know, them he did predestinate to be con- 
formed to the image of his Son." 

Abraham was elected to command his 
children and his household that they, should 
keep the way of the Lord ; and this is also 
our calling. To his descendants were to be 
committed the oracles of God and the sacred 
trust of preserving a pure worship. Who 
shall say what is the service to which God 
has destined our children ? Yet that they 
shall be fitted for it depends, under God, 
upon us. Oh to be faithful in all our house — 
to set the Lord always before us! Our relig- 
ious teachings not confined to stated hours 
and days, but to proceed spontaneously from 
a heart filled with all the fullness of God! 
"And these words— thou shalt teach them 
diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of 
them when thou sittest in thine house and 
when thou walkest by the way." 

God established his covenant with Abra- 
ham, saying, " Walk before me, and be thou 



44 



THE SABBATH MONTH. 



perfect, and I will give unto thy seed all the 
land of Canaan, and I will be their God." 
If the blessings of the covenant depended 
upon our walking within our house in a per- 
fect way, unaided, we might indeed tremble 
for our children. But God has made a new 
covenant with his people — " an everlasting 
covenant, that I will put my fear in their 
hearts, that they shall not depart from me." 
Here, indeed, is safety. 

Abraham believed God, and it was counted 
to him for righteousness, and he was called 
the friend of God. Oh for Abraham's faith ! 
for Abraham's unquestioning obedience ! for 
Abraham's high honor in the friendship of 
God! 



THIRTEENTH DAY. 45 

THIRTEENTH DAY. 

" As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word." — 
1 Pet. ii. 2. 

A NOTHER lesson I may learn in this 
-^ school in which God has placed me, and 
again my baby is the teacher. And that is 
the theme of the lesson, which most perfectly 
shows its entire dependence upon me. How 
entirely the one desire for the mother's breast 
absorbs and comprehends this little life ! Al- 
ready it has come to know this all-sufficient 
satisfaction for every want of its existence — 
to find unutterable content in the provision 
which has been made to meet its wants. 

So with my hungering and thirsting soul, 
which was created for the enjoyment of God, 
and can never be satisfied with any lesser 
good. But how often, unlike my baby, I 
seek to satisfy its hunger with that which 
satisfieth not ! Although I have so often 
tasted that the Lord is gracious, how often 
do I suffer from hunger while yet he is ever 



46 THE SABBATH MONTH 

willing to satisfy all my need. Oh let me 
lay this to heart ! As my baby's voice cry- 
ing for food awakes me early from my sleep, 
so " my voice thou shalt hear in the morn- 
ing, O Lord ;" " oh, satisfy us early with thy 
mercy." May I desire no other refreshment 
than the rivers of thy pleasure, of which 
thou makest thy people to drink ! May the 
one hunger and thirst after righteousness so 
absorb me that no other aim may seem 
worthy of my pursuit ! And as my baby, in 
the weakness of its new-born life, needs to 
be frequently nourished, that it may grow 
and become strong, so may I come frequently 
to thee, O thou who art the Bread of Life, 
that I may grow in grace and in the know- 
ledge of God ! And as every pain and sorrow 
this dear baby experiences is forgotten at 
this " cup of his life and couch of his rest," so 
may I in every sorrow turn to thee who wilt 
satiate the weary soul and replenish every 
sorrowful soul, until, in the newness of life, 
I and the children which thou hast given 



FOURTEENTH BAY. 47 

me come to dwell where we shall hunger no 
more, neither thirst any more; for the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the throne shall 
feed us. and shall lead us unto living foun- 
tains of waters, and God shall wipe away all 
tears from our eyes ! 



FOURTEENTH DAY. 

"Thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee 
by name." — Ex. xxxiii. 17. 

rilHE baby's name ! How important a mat- 
ter is its selection ! How many consider- 
ations go toward determining it ! And what 
a new and complete satisfaction the mother 
feels in her little one when she knows it by 
name ! What sweet associations gather around 
the baby's name — of a dear parent, or of a 
loved brother or sister, or of some most pre- 
cious friend, perhaps already gathered into 
the eternal home, and whose most hallowed 
remembrance will henceforth be in the dear 
child who bears the name ! 



48 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

But to be known by name of God! To 
be personally recognized by him, singled out 
by him from all the world to be the recipient 
of his grace ! Shall this wondrous blessing be 
indeed the portion of our darling? For thus 
saith the Lord unto his chosen : " Fear not, 
for I have redeemed thee ; I have called thee 
by name ; thou art mine." " Behold, I have 
graven thee upon the palms of my hands." 
"For thus saith the Lord unto those who 
choose the things that please him, and who 
take hold of his covenant, Even to them 
will I give a place and a name better than 
that of sons and of daughters, even an ever- 
lasting name." Then we need not fear what- 
ever of trial or of discipline the world may 
bring to our precious ones, for they will ever 
be under the guidance of the Good Shepherd, 
" who calleth his sheep by name," who will 
make them more than conquerors, and will 
give to each one who overcometh " a white 
stone, and in the stone a new name written, 
which no one knoweth save him that receiv- 



FOURTEENTH DAY. 49 

etli it." Blessed secret, known only to the 
soul and its Redeemer ! 

But thou dost not only know us by name, 
O Lord — thou dost even reveal thyself to us 
by thine own name of Emmanuel, God with 
us. Thy name is no more secret, for "be- 
hold, the tabernacle of the Lord is with men, 
and he will dwell with them, and they shall 
see his face, and his name shall be in their 
foreheads." " Him that overcometh thou 
wilt make a pillar in the house of thy God, 
and wilt write upon him the name of God, 
and w T ilt write upon him thy new name." 
"O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy 
name in all the earth ! Out of the mouth 
of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected 
praise." 



50 THE SABBATH MONTH. 



FIFTEENTH DAY. 

" I thank God when I call to remembrance the faith that is 
in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy 
mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also."— 
2 Tim. i. 3, 5. 

117 E learn from these words what a cause 
? ' of thankfulness we have who can look 
back upon a long line of pious ancestry. 
There were those who asked, when they- 
learned that the redemption purchased by 
Christ was not to be confined to the chosen 
race, " What advantage, then, hath the Jew?" 
And Paul's answer was emphatic: "Much 
every way; chiefly because to them were 
committed the oracles of God." This was 
their inheritance from " faithful Abraham," 
for it was his faith which led to his family 
becoming the recipients and conservators of 
the word of God. 

How often, too, in the midst of unbelief 
and idolatry was the rebellious nation saved 
from destruction for the fathers' sakes ! Many 



FIFTEENTH DAY. 51 

a time would they have been cut off in their 
sins but that God remembered that they were 
" the seed of Israel, my chosen/' " the seed 
of Abraham, my friend." How God seems 
to delight in calling this people by these 
names, and in identifying them thus with 
their faithful ancestors ! The pious Israelite 
had no stronger plea with which to approach 
his God. "Art not thou our God?" prayed 
Jehoshaphat when in fear from "a great mul- 
titude " which threatened him — " our God, 
who didst drive out the inhabitants of this 
land before thy people Israel, and gavest it 
to the seed of Abraham, thy friend?" What 
depths of consolation lay hidden for him in 
that remembrance of his ancestor, the friend 
of God ! 

The benefits which to the children of 
Abraham according to the flesh were chiefly 
temporal are to the spiritual Israel spiritual 
and eternal. And they are real. As the 
sinning Israelites could never fairly estimate 
to what extent they owed their deliverance 



52 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

from their enemies and from other chastise- 
ment to their faithful ancestors, so in all 
probability we have a very inadequate con- 
ception of what we owe to ours in the sub- 
duing of evil tendencies, in the elevation of 
the moral nature, in an early bent of the 
mind toward God and holiness. A simple 
contrast between the children of heathen and 
of Christian lands shows us something of this. 
While our children are born into the world 
partakers of a perverted nature, on how 
much higher a plane do they stand as to 
their moral perceptions, their capacity for 
reiigous training, than those whose parents 
have never known God ! The heritage of 
faith is no empty word. It is something to 
have the heritage of "them that fear thy 
name." "A goodly heritage" indeed is 
that acquaintance with God which has been 
handed down from parent to child through 
many generations. For Timothy the influ- 
ence of a pious mother and grandmother 
availed to counteract the influence of a 






FIFTEENTH DAY. 53 

heathen father, of the heathen community 
in which he was born. It made of him in 
early youth a valued servant of the Lord, 
enabling him to overcome the hindrance of 
a delicate constitution and to become the 
workfellow of Paul, the companion of his 
bonds, the bishop of a church of which the 
Lord could say, " I know thy works, and 
thy labor and thy patience, and how thou 
hast borne, and hast patience, and for my 
name's sake hast labored and hast not 
fainted." Was not this indeed a goodi} r 
heritage? To our children an equal bless- 
ing will ensue if we transmit to them un- 
spotted the holy legacy of faith which we 
ourselves have inherited. And to us what 
greater joy can there be than to see our 
children walking in the truth? 

Oh, does not the thought of all we have 
on our side, of all our encouragements, stir 
us up to be very faithful, " knoiving that 
our labor shall not be in vain in the Lord," 
and that our experience through life and in 



54 THE SABBATH MONTH 

deatli will be, "There has not failed one 
word of all his good promise " ? " The Lord 
our God be with us, as he was with our 
fathers!" Amen, 



SIXTEENTH DAY. 

"I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and 
I will save thy children." — Isa. xlix. 25. 

fTIHERE is one who contendeth with us. 
\ Your adversary, the devil, goeth about 
as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
devour. Therefore, it especially behooves 
us to be sober, be vigilant, for we wrestle not 
with flesh and blood. This is a real warfare 
in which we shall engage for the souls of 
our children. Let us earnestly take heed, 
then, that our hearts be not overcome with 
the cares of this life, which are so imperative 
in their demands upon us, lest we thus grad- 
ually fall into a condition where the enemy 
may snatch away the souls entrusted to us. 



SIXTEENTH DAY. 55 

For he is vigilant and terribly in earnest, 
and is not afraid to seek to lay his hand even 
upon the Lord's own children. " Simon, 
Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have 
you, that he may sift you as wheat." Ah ! 
blessed for Simon that his Lord added, " But 
I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail 
not " ! 

Here is an encouragement : "I have prayed 
for thee" "I will contend with him that 
contendeth with thee." "I will save thy 
children" What a precious promise is this ! 
How we may stay ourselves upon it ! Yes, 
Christ has indeed contended, and with sore 
wounds has achieved the salvation of our 
children. It pleased the Lord to bruise 
him — for the transgression of his people was 
he stricken. The Prince of this world came 
to him, and in deadly conflict persecuted 
his soul. In that anguish in which he sweat 
great drops of blood he wrestled with the 
enemy of souls. The terrible cry, " My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? " bore 



56 THE SABBATH MONTH 

witness to his mortal sorrow. But he con- 
quered. In that bitter moment it was fin- 
ished. Through death he destroyed him 
that had the power of death, and delivered 
them whom he came to save. 

" I will save thy children," This word is 
our security. But never, never, while we 
remember the price he has paid for their 
ransom, can we weary in our struggles against 
his enemy and ours. 

Let us fight on, then, for the souls of our 
children. Greater is He that is in us than 
he that is in the world. The God of peace 
shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly, 
and "to him that overcometh will I grant 
to sit with me in my throne, even as I also 
overcame, and am set down with my Father 
in his throne." 



SEVENTEENTH DAY. 57 

SEVENTEENTH DAY. 

" He pitched his tent toward Sodom." — Gen. xiii. 12. 

rjlHERE is a very solemn lesson to parents 
■** in the example of Lot, and especially to 
mothers, who are, apparently, more liable to 
fall into the snare in which he was taken. 
For years Lot had been a sharer in all the 
blessings of Abraham — in his protection from 
danger, in his worldly prosperity, and in the 
personal guidance of God. That he was a 
righteous man we have the testimony of St. 
Peter to supplement the somewhat doubtful 
witness of his life. But his riches were a 
snare to him. When it became necessary, 
from his increasing wealth, to remove from 
the near neighborhood of Abraham, behold- 
ing the plain of Jordan, that it was well 
w r atered everywhere like the garden of the 
Lord, he chose the whole plain of Jordan, 
but "he pitched his tent toward Sodom" 
although he knew that " the men of Sodom 
were wicked and sinners before the Lord 



58 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

exceedingly.'' That was the first step. A 
second finds him divelling in Sodom; and a 
third, sitting in the place of honor at the 
gate of the city. 

And what a bitter harvest of his worldli- 
ness did he reap! Saved, indeed, himself, 
" the Lord being merciful to him," but saved 
so as by fire, his wife overtaken by a fearful 
doom, his children lost, if not in the destruc- 
tion of Sodom, yet in being left to fall into 
the blackest crimes, their moral nature ut- 
terly corrupted by the ungodly associations 
of their youth. 

What a fearful warning to any of us who 
are tempted to believe that conformity to the 
world will in any way benefit our children ! 
To lose them through our very efforts for 
their prosperity ! Do not our hearts tell us 
that salvation itself for us could be no sal- 
vation if they were lost? Yet are we not 
sometimes inclined to run this risk for the 
sake of certain advantages which may be 
gained for our children by the companion- 



SEVENTEENTH DAY. 59 

ship of worldly people, and trusting that we 
may still, by our prayers and teachings, keep 
their garments unspotted even while bring- 
ing them into contact with the pollution of 
fiin ? O Lord, save us from this delusion ! 
Hide us, in the secret of thy presence, from 
the pride of man. When the Prince of this 
world cometh with all his flattering repre- 
sentations of the benefits of a worldly life, 
may he find "nothing in us" which responds 
to his allurements! 

Let us beware of setting an undue esti- 
mate on the attractions and the usefulness 
of the friendship of the world. While we 
may use this world, let us do it tremblingly, 
as not abusing it. Demas, once the fellow- 
laborer of Paul, forsook him, having loved 
this present world. How many times have 
the cares of this world so choked the word 
in the heart of a believing mother that it 
has become unfruitful ! Oh, let us not be 
conformed to the world ! Though we live in 
it, let us remember that we are not of it ; and 



60 THE SABBATH MONTH 

as the lily-bulb, planted in the dark and 
corrupting earth of a forest-bog, draws from 
thence only that which will nourish its fair 
growth and cause it to blossom forth into 
the perfect form of loveliness its Maker de- 
signed for it, so may we absorb from our 
earthly contact only that which shall cause 
us to grow into the likeness of our Lord ! 
For " even in Sardis " he has those who have 
not defiled their garments, and " they shall 
walk with him in white." 



EIGHTEENTH DAY. 

"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou or- 
dained strength." — Ps. viii. 2. 

r\R, rather, as the Hebrew words signify, 
^ " hast thou founded a tower of strength." 
The mother soon learns the meaning of the 
text. Words are inadequate to express the 
" strong consolation " which the baby brings 
its mother in moments of perplexity or of 



EIGHTEENTH DAY. 61 

weariness or of temptation. To turn from the 
cares which burden, or the sad thoughts 
which depress, to take the little one iii her 
arms, to feel the soft pressure of baby lips 
upon her breast, the clinging of baby fingers 
around her own, is an unspeakable refresh- 
ment, a joy in which a stranger intermed- 
dleth not. In those moments, too, which 
come to even the happiest wife, of longing for 
the dear ones of the early home from which 
distance or death has parted her, the baby is 
her best consoler. " Instead of thy fathers 
shall be thy children, whom thou mayest 
make princes in all the earth. " 

How sweet is the thought that our Sa- 
viour in the days of his life on earth found 
strength and comfort to flow to his soul from 
the lips of babes! When little children 
joined the worshiping throng in crying 
hosanna to the Son of David — when, after 
the multitude had been silenced, their eager 
enthusiasm urged them to follow him even 
into the temple-court with their shouts of 



62 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

praise — can we doubt that his soul was 
strengthened by the sound? He who was 
in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
without sin, shared also, we love to think, 
our consolations. And so his soul in that 
trying hour, sorrowing over Jerusalem, 
wounded by her sins, torn by the know- 
ledge that these acclamations and hosannas 
of the multitude should in a few days be 
changed to the ferocious clamor of an angry 
mob, — his soul found soothing and strength 
in the voices of little children. He would 
not have them stilled. " Yea, have ye never 
read," he says, " out of the mouth of babes 
and sucklings hast thou perfected praise?" 
How surely do both parents find a " tower 
of strength " in their little one in respect of 
their own plans and aspirations ! Few as 
their years may have been, they have suf- 
ficed to convince them of the inadequacy of 
life for the work they had set themselves to 
do. As the " celestial light " of youth be- 
gins to fade into the light of common day, 




EIGHTEENTH BAY. 63 

glorious visions lose their brightness, golden 
hopes grow dim, all labor seems wearisome 
and profitless. But the baby comes, and all 
is changed. The rosy light of a second dawn 
glows upon the parents' path ; a vista as of 
eternity opens before it; life is no longer 
bounded by one short existence ; hopes and 
plans are no more dwarfed by the narrow 
conditions of mortality, but spring up, broad- 
ening and widening over all time, while 
children and children's children shall carry 
on the work and bring that to grand com- 
pletion of which the parents but laid the 
foundation. 

Has not the Lord ordained that from these 
babes the Church on earth should draw new 
strength ? When that happy day arrives of 
which we now discern the dawning — when 
every child upon whom the Excellent Name 
has been named shall be acknowledged 
among the people of God — when the heart 
of the fathers being turned to the children, 
and the heart of the children to their fathers, 



64 THE SABBATH MONTH 

there shall be no longer schism in the' mem- 
bers of Christ's body, — then will the Church 
awake and put on her strength as never be- 
fore. Then Satan, being routed from his 
strongest hold, the hearts of the children, 
will be robbed of his greatest power over the 
Lord's people ; then the hopefulness and the 
humility of the little child will alike infuse 
new life into our churches, and often and 
often will the Saviour's thanksgiving find an 
echo in the hearts of his people : " I thank 
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
because thou hast hid these things from the 
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them 
unto babes." 



NINETEENTH DAY. 

- "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on thee." — Isa. xxvi. 3. 

nnHE marginal reading for mind is imag* 
-** ination, and in that word lies a very 
precious lesson for mothers, who are apt to 



NINETEENTH DA Y. 65 

indulge in anxious fears and apprehensions 
of future evil to their loved ones. How 
many mothers have been robbed of half 
their joy in their infant children by dwell- 
ing upon the cares and sorrows, the tempta- 
tions and sufferings, to which they are born ! 
From all these vain imaginations let us turn, 
and stay ourselves upon the Lord. How 
rapidly, when some slight ailment affects the 
little one, do our thoughts spring forward to 
greater suffering in store for it, to possible 
bereavement in ourselves ! — how often do we 
taste of the bitterness of death and of part- 
ing while as yet God has prepared no such 
sorrow for us! From this trial and from 
how many heavy forebodings we should be 
saved if our imagination were stayed on 
God ! " Thou wilt keep him in peace, 
peace " — is the emphatic Hebrew idiom ; and 
our Lord repeats it: "Peace I leave with 
you, my peace I give you, let not your heart 
be troubled, neither let it be afraid. " 

We have little idea how much these "vain 



66 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

[i. e. useless] thoughts" paralyze our hearts 
and unfit us for duty, and still less how 
they intervene between us and our God. It 
is no light thing that we thus disturb and 
frighten away the blessed Spirit of Peace 
which waits to take up its abode with us. 
" Casting down imaginations and bringing 
into captivity every thought to the obedience 
of Christ." Herein lies a deep mystery. For 
"he learned obedience through the things that 
he suffered /" and our thoughts and imagi- 
nations will only be brought into captivity 
to his obedience when we too are trilling to 
suffer his righteous will. Then we shall in- 
deed not be afraid — not because no ill shall 
befall us, but because we are confident that 
all our affliction, being sent by him, shall 
work out a " far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory." So shall we attain to the 
peace of him whose heart is fixed, trusting 
in the Lord. 

But there is blessed occupation for thought 
and imagination. The remembrance of past 



NINETEENTH DAY. 67 

mercy, the hope of future and eternal glory, 
are blessed themes of contemplation. We 
do not sufficiently give ourselves to this bu- 
siness of heavenly meditation or of talking 
with God of his mercies. These quiet days 
of retirement are well fitted for forming the 
habit of such meditation. " O Lord God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel our fathers/' 
prayed David, " keep this for ever in the 
imagination of the thoughts of the heart of 
thy people, and prepare their heart unto 
thee." God's glory and greatness, his won- 
derful goodness to his people, and his con- 
descension in permitting them to dedicate 
their wealth to his service, were the themes 
which David prayed might occupy the imag- 
ination of the people ; and they are glorious 
occupation indeed for the thoughts of any 
of God's creatures. In such a habit of mind 
we would find our cares and anxieties more 
than half done away ; our " peace would 
then be as a river, and our righteousness as 
the waves of the sea." 



68 THE SABBATH MONTH. 



TWENTIETH DAY. 

" I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." — 
Gen. xvii. 7. 

rilHIS was the promise of God to Abra- 
. ham in the day that he (made, i. e.) 
gave his covenant to him — a covenant not 
made with conditions, as the first covenant 
with Adam ; not even concerted between 
two consenting parties, as in the day when 
God promised the land of Canaan to Abra- 
ham's seed ; but now a free gift, of which 
the sign and seal was found in the rite of 
circumcision. And this covenant we, the 
children of Abraham by faith, claim for our 
children whom we offer to God in the sacred 
ordinance of baptism. They are the chil- 
dren of God. Buried with Christ in baptism, 
they are to rise with him to newness of life. 
There is, therefore, now no condemnation to 
them which are in Christ Jesus. We hope 
not merely for their future ; we believe in 



TWENTIETH DAY. 69 

their present salvation. Now are they the 
sons of God. 

Not for any regenerating grace in the or- 
dinance. From the moment when we first 
bear them on our hearts to God and conse- 
crate them to his service — a consecration of 
which the rite of baptism is the public token — 
from that moment God accepts them. " Fear 
not," he says to them ; " I have called thee 
by thy name ; thou art mine ;" and in that 
pledge may we rest, giving our precious ones 
wholly into the hands of the Lord their 
Redeemer. 

Rest, but not in inaction. How can we, 
to whom is committed the training of the 
children of a King, be ever unmindful of 
our high vocation ? We are now co-workers 
with God in the education of his consecrated 
ones. How carefully shall we, partakers of 
this heavenly calling, be faithful in all our 
house ! How t confidently may we pray for a 
blessing on our labors, knowing that for his 
own name's sake he will do it! Our children 



70 THE SABBATH MONTH 

will not grow up in ignorance of their great 
privilege. From the earliest dawn of reason 
we will teach them the blessedness of their 
situation as being the little ones whom the 
Lord Jesus gathered in his arms and blessed. 
Not as Esau, who despised his birthright, 
but as the redeemed of the Lord, called unto 
holiness, they will grow up in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord. So, recogniz- 
ing their peculiar responsibilities and con- 
fiding in their parents' God, whom they have 
early learned to know, we shall see them, as 
they arrive at a fit age to make a conscious 
choice, taking upon themselves the vows of 
the Lord. " Our sons will be as plants grown 
up in their youth, " "our daughters as cor- 
ner-stones, polished after the similitude of a 
palace ;" "and they shall be mine," saith 
the Lord of hosts, " in the day that I make 
up my jewels." For this is the heritage of 
the servants of the Lord, and such honor 
have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord ! 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 71 

TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 

"Feed the flock of God which are among you." — 1 Pet. 
v. 2. 

A S Peter penned the words of this exhor- 
-"- tation he can hardly have failed to 
recall to mind his Saviour's twice-repeated 
charge, " Feed my lambs." The lambs of 
the flock are very precious to our Lord. 

There is a sense in which this exhortation 
is addressed especially to each mother, inas- 
much as she stands at the head of one house- 
hold in the Lord's Zion : " Feed the flock 
of God which is among you" 

Every living Christian strongly desires to 
labor actively for his Lord. Each one of us, 
when we first became conscious of his love, 
asked, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
do?" And to many of us the way seemed 
quite hedged up. Our circumstances, our 
youth, our sex, made it appear wise to our 
parents to circumscribe our field in a way 
which disappointed and tried our new-born 



72 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

zeal. Or there seemed to be literally nothing 
for us to do. Many and many a beloved 
servant of the Lord has gone mourning all 
her days because her Master seemed to deny 
her the privilege of working for him — not 
realizing that her prayers and her patience 
were more potent service than any other. 
If we have belonged to this class before, our 
prayer is now answered. In the little child 
now given us we have one of Christ's flock, 
and the most precious, thankful task that 
heart could desire in nourishing its spirit- 
ual life. 

There are others of us to whom the Lord 
has opened wide avenues of usefulness, whose 
time and strength have been gladly devoted 
to his active service. To such the injunction 
comes with double force : " Feed the flock of 
God which is among you. Beware how any 
foreign interest, however important, lead to 
the neglect of one duty to this precious soul 
which I have intrusted to thee." "As thy 
servant was busy here and there, he was 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 73 

gone." Oh, can it be possible that that 
shall ever be the excuse we shall bring to 
God when at his appearing he shall ask, 
"Where is the flock that was given thee — 
thy beautiful flock?" The thought is too 
terrible. We shrink in horror from the 
idea of such a sequence to our busy labors 
in God's service. 

Oh, let us never yield to this temptation. 
There is more danger of it than we now 
realize, shut up to the Sabbath rest of the 
sick-room, with eternity so near to us as it 
has been but now. Let us be very watchful 
in this matter who have wide-reaching sym- 
pathies in the field of the Lord. How bitter 
would be our cry, " Mine own vineyard have 
I not kept," if later in life we should see one 
of our children's souls dwarfed and stunted 
for want of the culture we should have given 
it years before ! 

Let "This one thing I do" be our motto. 
Let us be ensamples to our little flock in all 
holy living. Let us draw them with our 



74 



THE SABBATH MONTH. 



sweet influences till they run after us up 
the heavenly road. So may we appear be- 
fore him with joy at last, saying, " Thine 
they were, and thou gavest them me, and 
they have kept thy word*" 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 

"But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to ever- 
lasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto 
children's children." — Ps. ciii. 17. 

TTOW God delights in reminding us of 
iJL his mercy ! Thirty-seven times in the 
Bible he tells us that his mercy endureth 
for ever. When Moses prayed, " I beseech 
thee, show me thy glory," he said, " I will 
make all my goodness pass before thee," and 
proclaimed his name—" The Lord, the Lord 
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering 
and abundant in goodness and truth ; keep- 
ing mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
and transgression and sin." And how in- 
finitely his delight in mercy transcends his 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY, 75 

pleasure in his justice — looking at it from 
the earthward side— is shown where he says, 
"Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon 
the children unto the third and fourth gen- 
eration/' and "Know, therefore, that the 
Lord thy God is the faithful God which 
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that 
love him and keep his commandments to a 
thousand generations" This is indeed "keep- 
ins; covenant with children's children." If 
they depart from his w 7 ays, he " will chasten 
them " indeed, but his " mercy shall not 
depart aw T ay from them." Prone to wander 
as we are, he does not leave us to ourselves. 
" Wherefore, I will yet plead with you, saith 
the Lord, and with your children's children 
will I plead." His covenant is an everlast- 
ing covenant. 

There is something very noticeable in the 
expression, " his righteousness to children's 
children." It is as if he considered it a debt 
that he owed his servants — that they had a 
right to claim his mercy to their descend- 



76 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

ants. " God is not unrighteous, to forget your 
work and labor of love ;" no, " the righteous 
shall be in everlasting remembrance." 

What an incentive is this to growth in 
grace ! How earnestly shall I seek to be 
accounted as righteous in his sight if such 
benefits are to accrue therefrom not only to 
my children, but to children's children as 
long as the world shall endure. And oh 
the joy of knowing that righteousness may 
be mine through faith in our Lord Jesus ! 
His robe of righteousness not only covers our 
sins and iniquities and makes us outwardly 
pure, hiding our sins from God's sight; 
such is its blessed and wondrous efficacy that 
it works within, and actually does purify the 
hearts of those over whom it is cast. We 
"are complete in him." Then let me quickly 
throw away the rags and tatters of my own 
righteousness, with which I may be seeking 
to adorn myself, and accept of " the right- 
eousness which is by faith " so freely offered 
to me. 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 77 

But the promise is to those who "keep 
his covenant and who remember his com- 
mandments, to do them." Then must I 
carefully train my children to know the 
duties as well as the privileges of the cove- 
nant. Its blessings are freely theirs ; how 
awful, then, the penalty of a deliberate re- 
jection of them ! The thought that this 
depends, under God, upon mothers, must 
make us watchful indeed. But let us not 
be overwhelmed with this responsibility. It 
is a blessed thing if it keeps us instant in 
prayer, ever clinging to Jesus, who alone 
and who so freely gives grace to us and ours ; 
and with what confidence we may ask him 
that he will put such a heart in them when 
we can say, " We do not present our suppli- 
cations to thee for our righteousness, but for 
thy great mercies "I We shall never be 
ashamed who trust in the mercy of God that 
he will keep his covenant— still less we who 
trust in his righteousness. 



78 



THE SABBATH MONTH. 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY. 

" And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone 
about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in 
the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the 
number of them all ; for Job said, It may be that my sons 
have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job 
continually." — Job i. 15. 

" WHATSOEVER things were written 
' ' aforetime were written for our learn- 
ing, that we, through patience and comfort 
of the Scriptures, might have hope." Let 
us, then, consider the conduct of Job as an 
example for ourselves. 

We find him offering intercessory prayer 
for his children. And how gladly do we 
accept this teaching that we may pray for 
ours! "And my servant Job shall pray for 
you, for him will I accept," God himself says 
later to Job's three friends, showing that he 
delights in such prayer. What wings does 
this assurance lend to every mother's prayer 
as she pleads with God for her beloved chil- 
dren ! " The effectual, fervent prayer of a 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY. 79 

righteous man availeth much." Oh, then, let 
us never weary in praying for our children, 
since our prayers will avail muck for them. 
But Job not only prays for them in secret ; 
he calls them to prayer, and cultivates in 
them, even after they have passed the age of 
infancy, a tender conscience and a readiness 
to confess their sins. We have no reason to 
suppose that the series of festivities which 
these sons and daughters held were other 
than innocent. As God could challenge 
Satan to show a single flaw in Job's charac- 
ter, it is not likely that he had neglected the 
training of his children, and the readiness 
with which they obey his call is an evidence 
of their right feeling. But Job knows the 
peculiar dangers of prosperity and the 
temptations to which the youthful and 
light-hearted are especially exposed, and 
he teaches his children to examine them- 
selves and see if, even inadvertently, they 
had sinned. Let us learn from his example 
to be very careful how we retain a holy 



80 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

influence over our children at the age when 
they are being gradually weaned from home 
and assuming individual responsibility, for 
the responsibility of a parent never wholly 
ceases. 

There is a thought hidden in this history 
which we may perhaps ponder with benefit. 
Job offered sacrifices for his children. It is 
true he did it as the priest of his household, 
and our great Sacrifice having been slain 
for us, there remain eth now no more offering 
for sin. But we do still bring our thank- 
offerings and our free-will offerings into the 
temple of the Lord, and there seems to be a 
peculiar blessedness in doing this, not only 
for ourselves, but for our children. This is 
a thought especially for the mothers of little 
children. Who can tell how the offering 
brought in the name and stead of this little 
one may be blessed by God to its own soul ! 
how the infant heart thus associated in the 
work of the Lord through its mother's faith 
and prayer may be especially softened by 






TWENTY-FO UR TH DA Y. 81 

the dews of the heavenly grace, and made 
more tender, more loving, more self-denying, 
more earnest in the service of the Lord, even 
unconsciously to itself, as by the Spirit of 
the Lord ! We love to offer gifts to God in 
memory of our lost loved ones ; why should 
we not "let love antedate the work of death" 
in consecrating a portion to him in anticipa- 
tion of the time when our beloved may join 
us in the work of the Lord? 

And let us remember that our prayers and 
efforts for our children are not to cease while 
life lasts, for "thus did Job continually," 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY. 

" I will lead on softly, according as the children be able 
to endure." — Gen. xxxiii. 14. 

TN our pilgrimage toward the heavenly 
■*■ Canaan we do not travel alone. " No 
man liveth to himself," and our progress in 
the divine life is not to be without reference 



82 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

to our children. They are members of the 
household of faith equally with us, but they 
are still babes in Christ. If we ourselves 
often stumble, how much more are they in 
danger of falling ! " Let us be very gentle 
among them ; as a nurse cherisheth her chil- 
dren " let us cherish this little life which 
has but now begun. 

The piety of our children will be infant 
piety — no more fitted to encounter rude con- 
flict than they themselves are fitted to go out 
into the world alone. And God has given 
them a mother not more to nourish and care 
for their bodies than their souls. " Thou 
hast seen how the Lord thy God did bear 
thee as a man beareth his son ; " we have still 
need that the Lord should be " long-suffer- 
ing to us-ward." As we stand in the place 
of God to our children in matters of author- 
ity and of duty, so let us see that we repre- 
sent him in his care for souls. " I taught 
Ephraim also to go, taking them by their 
arnis;" as § mother supports the first totter- 






TWENTY-FOURTH DAY. 83 

ing steps of her baby, so in their first feeble 
steps on the highway of holiness let them 
be constantly aware of our guiding and 
supporting hands. How carefully we shall 
remove every little stumbling-block from 
the way of our baby's first steps! How 
jealously, too, should we "make straight 
paths for their feet/' lest they stumble in 
their heavenly walk ! 

Above all, our own advance is to be no 
impediment to theirs. " To the weak I 
became as the weak." Our own day's march 
is to be only " according as the children be 
able to endure." Is it an unheard-of thing 
that the strictness of a mother's piety has 
alienated her children from God? Have 
not the stern observances, the strict limita- 
tions, of her religious life sometimes been a 
burden heavier than they could bear ? Why 
should we condemn what the Lord hath not 
condemned ? Why should we put a yoke 
upon the children's necks which we ourselves 
have not been able to endure? The yoke 



84 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

of the Lord is easy; let us not make it heavy. 
Let us beware how we make those hearts sad 
which the Lord hath not made sad. We 
know that " forasmuch as the children were 
partakers of flesh and blood, he also took 
part in the same;" so let us partake of our 
children's frailty, becoming one with them 
by sympathy, entering into all their hin- 
drances and drawbacks. The children are 
tender ; if we overdrive them one day they 
will die. Let us lead on softly " until we come 
unto our Lord unto his place" (margin). 






TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 

" For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me 
my petition which I asked of him." — 1 Sam. i. 27. 

fXF all the mothers whose stories are re- 
corded in the Bible, Hannah is the near- 
est to our hearts. And of all the children, 
none, except the holy child Jesus, is so 
lovely as Samuel, the typical child in whom 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 85 

every mother sees her fairest visions person- 
ified. He is indeed the most perfect type 
of the Child Jesus which we have. Even 
Joseph, in later youth a most beautiful 
type of Christ, does not equal Samuel in 
childish character, marred as his was by the 
natural self-satisfaction of a "good child." 
We never read of Samuel falling into sin ; 
his guileless heart is never lifted up by his 
visions ; he has none of the self-importance 
of one to whom a terrible secret has been 
entrusted. We never learn that he regretted 
the choice his mother had made for him of 
a Nazarite's life with its peculiar restraints, 
nor that he ever for a moment questioned 
his duty as to accepting that choice. 

May we not seek for the causes of this 
remarkable perfection of character, endeav- 
oring humbly to learn if in aught we may 
so imitate this mother's example as to hope 
for a like blessing in our own children? 

We notice especially Hannah's great long- 
ing for a child. Her defrauded mother-in- 



86 



THE SABBATH MONTH. 



stinct cries out for the blessing, and will not 
be denied. Here is none of that reluctance 
to take up the duties and burdens of mother- 
hood which we so often see. How can we 
doubt that the child which has drawn its life 
from that longing, loving heart, will develop 
a more perfect nature, a larger soul, expand- 
ing into greater beauty of character, than the 
one which has been anticipated with disfavor, 
its limitations of the expectant mother's plea- 
sures reluctantly submitted to, its demands 
upon her time grudgingly complied with? 

In the bitterness of her soul, in the hunger 
of her heart, Hannah prayed unto the Lord. 
She had learned the comfort of pouring out 
her soul before God. That this was a true 
rolling of her burden on the Lord is evident, 
because after she had prayed her prayer and 
vowed her vow her countenance was no more 
sad. She knew the blessedness of the one 
whose hope the Lord is. Could the child 
of such faith and prayer be other than a 
child of grace? 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 



87 



Her vow was no superstitious impulse, iu 
which she sought to propitiate the clemency 
of God, but a deliberate choosing of the best 
lot for this so longed-for child. This is seen 
from her alacrity in redeeming her vow. At 
the earliest possible age she brings him up to 
the house of the Lord : "I have lent him to 
the Lord ; as long as he liveth he shall be 
lent to the Lord." What the extent of this 
sacrifice was only our hearts can understand 
who, like Hannah, have longed for a son, 
and have received him from the Lord for 
the petition which we asked of him. It was 
no light thing, this lending her child to the 
Lord. 

But she had her reward. First, when she 
knew that (like the Blessed Child of whom 
he was a type) " the child grew on, and was 
in favor both with the Lord and also with 
men." And yet more when " all Israel 
knew that Samuel was established to be a 
prophet of the Lord." And oh the joy of 
knowing that, after many years of with- 



88 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

drawal, "the Lord appeared again to his 
people" by the means of her son! 

May such great blessedness be ours ! 
There is much for us to ponder over in 
this subject. 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. 

" And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren ; and his 
mother called his name Jabez [Sorrowful], saying, Because I 
bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Is- 
rael, saying, Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and en- 
large my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and 
that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve 
me! And God granted him that which he requested." — 1 
Chron. iv. 9, 10. 

T)ESIDES the happy mothers who have 
*-* received their little ones with joyful 
thanksgiving and amid glad congratulations, 
we find those whose children are ushered into 
the world with sorrow. Not with reluctance 
— we should not so receive the gift of God — 
but who can say what darkness of bereave- 



TWENTY-SIXTH BAY. 89 

ment, what anguish of soul over erring loved 
ones, what pinching of penury, may rend the 
heart which broods over the little new-born 
one in an agony of love and grief? To such 
conies a word of good cheer in the verses be- 
fore us. Were they written expressly for 
sorrowing mothers throughout all time, we 
wonder? Why else are they here, stand- 
ing alone in the midst of the dry geneal- 
ogies, having no hint of connection with the 
names which precede and follow? Who was 
this sorrowful mother, or who her honored 
son, we know not. There is no word of 
tribe or family, birthplace or brethren. His 
mother bare him with sorrow. That is all, 
but it brings her near to many a heart to- 
day. 

"And Jabez was more honorable than his 
brethren." This son of his mother's sorrow 
becomes the son of her right hand. Take 
courage, sorrowful mother, and look forward 
in hope. Not always will the night of weep- 
ing darken over you and your child. The 



90 THE SABBATH MONTH 

Lord is leading you by a way that you know 
not. " Thy light shall rise in obscurity, and 
thy darkness be as the noonday." Will you 
regret the trials which lead to such honor as 
this f " The Lord granted him the things 
which he requested." Earthly honor you 
may not covet for your child, but would not 
such as this far outweigh a multitude of woes ? 
For what were " the things which he re- 
quested " ? " That thine hand might be 
with me, and that thou wouldst keep me 
from evil, that it may not grieve me." Can 
you ask more ? You pray not that your be- 
loved " be taken out of the world," but that 
it may be kept from evil. " That it may not 
grieve me." You have known grief, sor- 
rowing mother ; what better do you ask 
but that the Lord will keep it from your 
child ? Only " let not your heart be trou- 
bled." Rejoice even in the midst of afflic- 
tion over this blest gift of God. You may 
live to see this child of sorrow become 
" more honorable " even than its brethren 



TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 91 

sent to you in happier days. " For the 
Lord will again rejoice over thee for good." 
" Refrain thy voice from weeping and 
thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be 
rewarded, saith the Lord. . . . And there is 
hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy 
children shall come again to their own bor- 
der." 



TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 

"For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, 
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall 
the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that 
hath mercy on thee." — Isa. liv. 10. 

TTOW firm a foundation we have who rest 
-*--*- our hopes of salvation upon the work of 
Christ ! For who is a rock like our God ? 
Let us consider the terms of our covenant 
of peace, that our souls may be refreshed. 
In times of bodily weakness we are in 
especial danger of losing our peace. We 
examine our own selves to see if we be in 
the faith, and too often our faith fails us in 



92 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

that very exercise. But this is owing to our 
inadequate views of Christ's work. Finished 
as it was upon the cross as to our redemp- 
tion, it yet never ceases as to our sanctifica- 
tion and as to our final perseverance. He 
ever liveth to make intercession for us. It 
is his love, not ours, which secures us. He 
holds us, not we him. Our clinging hands, 
grown weak w T ith long self-nerving, may lose 
their hold upon our Saviour, yet we are in 
his arms. He sought us out and ransomed 
us ; shall he let us fall ? " Can a woman 
forget her sucking child, that she should not 
have compassion on the son of her womb? 
Yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget 
thee." Ah, to me does not this say enough, 
and more than enough? It is impossible that 
any should pluck me out of his hand. Does 
my baby's safety depend upon its clinging 
to me or to the protecting arms about it? 
" Therefore will we not fear, though the 
earth be removed and though the mountains 
be carried into the midst of the sea." Fear! 



TWENTY-SEVENTH DA Y. 93 

How can I fear when once I have relin- 
quished all dependence upon my own stead- 
fastness and depend upon the faithfulness of 
Him that called me, " who also will do it " ? 
Oh let me take the comfort of this covenant 
of peace ! Peter walked on the water to go 
to Jesus. Did his faith save him ? Did it 
not rather fail him ? Yet he did not perish. 
For Jesus caught him by the hand, saying, 
" O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou 
doubt ? " And shall he not ever hold me by 
the hand? 

Take courage, then, timid heart. He who 
chose thee before the foundation of the world 
will still keep thee after the mountains de- 
part. The covenant of his peace shall never 
be removed, for his love is its surety. Many 
waters cannot quench that love, neither can 
floods drown it; thine unworthiness shall 
not tire it; thy faithlessness shall not dis- 
courage it. " Thou hast delivered my 
soul from death ; wilt thou not deliver my 
feet from falling ? " Yes, a thousand times 



94 THE SABBATH MONTH 

yes. " They shall never perish ; my Father 
which gave them to me is greater than I, 
and no man is able to pluck them out of my 
Father's hand." " Who shall separate us 
from the love of Christ?" Shall tribula- 
tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or 
nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all 
these things we are more than conquerors 
through Him that loved us, for " the Lord of 
peace can give us peace by all means," even 
by these sore afflictions. They all are means 
of peace to them who are embraced in the 
covenant of peace. " The Lord is able to do 
for us exceeding abundantly above all we 
can ask or think, according to the power [his 
power, not ours] that worketh in us." And 
we are persuaded that "neither death, nor life, 
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature 
shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
" The Lord bless thee and keep thee ; the 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY. 95 

Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be 
gracious unto thee ; the Lord lift up his coun- 
tenance upon thee and give thee peace ! " 

" Now unto Him that is able to keep you 
from falling, and to present you faultless 
before the presence of his glory with ex- 
ceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Sa- 
viour, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, 
both now and ever." Amen. 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY. 

" Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall 
appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." — 
1 John iii. 2. 

fTlHE contemplation of our future glory, 
-*- when " he shall change our vile body, 
that it may be fashioned like unto his glo- 
rious body, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
any such thing," is a rapturous employment. 
That we shall receive the crown of righteous- 
ness which he shall give to all them that love 
his appearing — the robe of fine linen, clean 



96 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

and white, which is the righteousness of the 
saints— is not all ; but we ourselves shall be 
like him. Oh the joy unspeakable and full 
of glory which this thought imparts ! 

We know not what we shall be. Our 
limited understandings cannot grasp the 
wondrous thought. Now are we the sons of 
God, but the little child upon our knees, 
with its tiny growth, its unformed features, 
its undeveloped intellect, its unconsciousness 
of the great, yearning mother-love which 
enfolds it, is far liker to the noble Christian 
manhood, the sweet, gracious womanhood, 
which we foresee in it than we, in our best 
days, in the fullest vigor of our intellects, in 
the most ripened graces of our Christianhood, 
in the highest flight of our aspirations, are 
like to the glorious beings which we shall be. 
To be like him ! We should not have dared 
to ask it. None but the beloved disciple 
could have written the word. Oh, what to 
him who had leaned on the bosom of the 
Lord, what in his exile and sufferings in the 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY. 97 

long weary life which made him " the com- 
panion" of every suffering one "in tribulation 
and in the kingdom and patience of Christ," 
what must have been the bliss of this assu- 
rance ! He who had seen him in the days 
of his flesh, to whom, even with the veil of 
humanity upon his Godhead, he had been 
the chiefest among ten thousand, the one 
altogether lovely — " he should be like him, 
for he should see him as he is ! " 

But we too shall be like him. Such know- 
ledge is too wonderful for us, we cannot at- 
tain to it. Yet " every one that hath this 
hope in him purifieth himself, even as He 
is pure." How can sin remain in a heart 
which is fully possessed with such a hope as 
this. u Beholding, with open faces as in a 
glass, the glory of the Lord," we are being 
" changed into the same image, from glory 
to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." But 
not till he appears shall the full consum- 
mation of the glorious change take place. 
"When Christ, our life, shall appear, we also 



98 THE SABBATH MONTH 

shall appear with him in glory. To us, then, 
even now to live is Christ. " I live, yet not 
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which 
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of 
the Son of God, who loved me and gave him- 
self for me." Oh, to see him as he is ! Even 
now a vivid apprehension of him by faith, a 
sense of his immediate presence, though but 
transient, lifts us above all the cares and 
sorrows, obliterates the pains, of this life, 
but what will it be to see his face ? O joy 
unspeakable and full of glory ! " As for me, 
I shall behold thy face in righteousness. / 
shall be satisfied when I awake with thy 
likeness." 



TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 99 

TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 

" Rejoice in the Lord always : and again I say, Bejoice." — 
Phll. iv. 4. 

IT is strange that any who have obtained 
our precious hope should require such 
an admonition. But perhaps to none is it 
more appropriate than to mothers, both from 
the many causes which they seem to have for 
despondency and from the immediate influ- 
ence which their state of mind has upon 
their children. Do we feel, as the time ap- 
proaches for us to resume life's duties with 
its doubled responsibilities, that we are not 
sufficient for these things? "The joy of 
the Lord is your strength" is no merely 
poetical phrase, but a living truth. Let us 
prove it, and learn, as thousands have learned 
before us, that rejoicing in God does really 
double our ability to perform our duty. 
Not that our duties are not grave, our re- 
sponsibilities infinitely solemn. To us is 
committed the welfare of immortal souls. 






100 THE SABBATH MONTH 

How much depends upon us we probably 
only glimmeringly perceive. But just in 
proportion as the desires of our heart are for 
the salvation of our children and the glory 
of God by them, so much the more should 
we " delight ourselves in the Lord." Oh, let 
us draw our children to him by the warm 
influence of a cheerful service. Let them 
not, by seeing in their mother a woman of 
a sorrowful countenance, learn to misappre- 
hend the character of her Master and of his 
service. In dwelling upon this subject I 
cannot refrain from here rendering a tribute 
to a beloved mother, now glorified, who, in 
the midst of a life of unusual and heavy sor- 
rows, so exemplified the grace of God that 
to her children the words " as sorrowful, yet 
always rejoicing/ 5 read in the light of her 
life, were no mystery, but the clearest truth. 
So let it be with us all. May we never need 
the rebuke of Christ, " Forbid not these little 
ones to come to me " ! For it is possible, even 
while we are praying, agonizing, for their sal- 



TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 101 

vation, that we may not suffer them to come 
to him, frightening them away from the ser- 
vice which they see casts a gloom upon our 
lives. Oh, let us ivillingly offer unto the 
Lord our lives and our constant service. 
Let us commit our way unto the Lord, 
and our countenance be no more sad. Our 
strength shall be as our day; we have the 
word of God and a happy experience of past 
mercy to confirm the promise, and he is able 
to make us to rejoice even in tribulation. 
Yes, to rejoice and be exceeding glad, for 
great is our reward in heaven. Let us have 
more respect unto the recompense of reward, 
and we shall no longer go mourning because 
of the oppression of the enemy. " For I will 
strengthen the house of Judah ; I am the 
Lord their God, and will hear them, and 
their heart shall rejoice as through wine, 
yea, their children shall see it and be glad, 
and their heart shall rejoice in the Lord." 



102 



THE SABBATH MONTH. 



THIRTIETH DAY. 

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from 
Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 
forty days tempted of the devil." — Luke iv. 1, 2. 

A FTER having received the baptism of 
■£*- the Holy Spirit, and having been pub- 
licly acknowledged by a voice from heaven 
as the Son of God, the devil comes to him. 
From the highest heights to the deepest 
depths. Ecstatic communion with God — 
fierce conflict with the Prince of darkness. 
So Elijah after his triumphant vindication 
of the honor of God and the fierv exaltation 
of spirit in which he slew the prophets of 
Baal, descends almost to the depth of despair. 
He too spends forty days in the wilderness 
in a conflict with the tempter. So Moses, 
after having talked with God as a man 
talketh with his friend, is suddenly exposed 
to the fiercest temptation on beholding the 
sin of the children of Israel. To each the 



THIRTIETH DAY. 103 

period of highest privilege is succeeded by 
a time of stern conflict. 

This experience is in a degree repeated in 
the lives of many of God's children. And 
I, who for four blessed weeks have been se- 
cluded from the tumults of the world, lying 
in the light of God's countenance under the 
special influence of the Holy Spirit, am now 
called to go down from the mount of priv- 
ilege and enter upon a struggle with the 
Prince of this world. Now, first, from the 
demands upon my strength, shall I be sen- 
sible of my weakness, and find in each re- 
curring duty a fresh temptation to irritabil- 
ity, to discouragement, to self-indulgence, to 
repining at the weariness of my lot. The 
sweet joys of maternity, which thus far have 
been devoid of responsibility, will them- 
selves henceforth be mingled with heavy 
cares, with weary nights and anxious days. 
Many a time I shall cry in sorrow, " Oh that 
it were with me as in times past ! " " the 
journey is too great for me." Then let me 



104 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

take courage from the example of Christ. 
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning 
the fiery trial which is to try you, as though 
some strange thing happened unto you, but 
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of 
Christ's sufferings." Yes, Christ has known 
the desert and the tempter's wiles. Christ 
has suffered, being tempted ; he knows every 
fiery dart of the devil. And shall he not 
succor us who are tempted ? Shall he leave 
our soul among lions ? Ah no ; he knows 
hoiv to deliver the godly out of temptation. 
He will keep " his darling " from the power 
of Satan. He suffered for us, leaving us an 
example, that we should follow in his steps. 
Driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, I 
there shall find the prints of his feet. Walk- 
ing in them, I am safe, for though tempted 
he did not fall. The devil left him, and 
angels came and ministered unto him. And 
to me " the wilderness and the solitary place 
shall be glad for them, and the desert shall 
rejoice and blossom as the rose." I shall 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY. 105 

find waters " break out in the wilderness and 
streams in the desert, and a highway shall 
be there ; it shall be called the way of holi- 
ness." " Therefore, behold, I will allure her 
and bring her into the wilderness, and speak 
comfortably unto her, and I will give her 
vineyards from thence, and the valley of 
Aehor [i. e. trouble] for a door of hope" 
He himself is the Way, and he hath said, 
"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY. 

"Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee." 
— 1 Kixgs xix. 7. 

T^LIJAH was sleeping for sorrow. That 
■" mighty, courageous heart, so " very jeal- 
ous for the Lord of hosts," had fainted. 
"Take away my life," he prayed, and the 
Lord answered; an angel touched him and 
said unto him, "Arise and eat." He sus- 
tains, instead of taking away, the weary life. 



106 THE SABBATH MONTH 

" The journey is too great for thee/' says the 
messenger of the God of all consolation, and 
supplies him with that which shall strength- 
en him for the work before him. 

At the threshold of our return to ordinary 
life we take into account the duties before us, 
and our spirits faint within us. When we 
consider that not merely former duties, in 
which we have so often failed, but new re- 
sponsibilities, are to be assumed, we shrink 
in dismay from the task. To train a soul 
for God, to grapple with the inherent evil 
of its nature and subdue it, to nourish gra- 
cious tendencies, to discern what sins most 
easily beset it, to guard it from the allure- 
ments of the world, to guide the little feet 
in the way of peace, to " be instant in season 
and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort 
with all long-suffering" — this is the work 
of an angel, and not of a weak, erring mor- 
tal who has herself need of guidance and 
of support. Ah, here is our strength. We 
have need indeed, and our God supplies all 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY. 107 

our need. "Arise and eat," he says unto us. 
I, who in my tender sympathy know full well 
that the journey is too great for thee, have 
made provision for all thy wants. "In me 
all fullness dwells." " Eat, O friends, drink, 
yea, drink abundantly, O beloved," " for my 
flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
indeed." 

So, as long as we feel our own insufficiency, 
we are safe ; as long as w r e feel our weakness, 
we are strong, for then we depend entirely 
upon Christ. He gives us day by day our 
daily bread, and the journey need never be 
too great for us. Only let us never fail to 
accept the provision he makes. The daily 
study of his word, daily communion with 
him in prayer, the hourly lifting up of our 
hearts to him, the bringing every care and 
perplexity to his feet, as well as the assem- 
bling of ourselves together, and the sacred 
eucharistic feast, — all are our meal-times, and 
shall each supply us with a portion of strength. 
So, feeding by faith on the Son of God, we 



108 THE SABBATH MONTH. 

shall not find the difficulties of the way too 
great for us, but in the strength of that meat 
we shall go through all our pilgrimage until 
we come even unto Horeb, the mount of God, 



THE END. 



